The Ultimate Rejection
by Jack Bauer Reborn
Summary: Ranma comes to realize that there may be one person who might be able to help him with his problems.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own _Ranma ½_. It's owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Comics. This isn't written for any form of profit.

This story assumes the anime timeline BEFORE the "Boy Meets Mom" episode at the end of Season 7. Essentially, this means that Ranma has not talked to Nodoka since leaving on the training trip with Genma. He has essentially no memory of her.

This is my first attempt at fan fiction. I invite comments, _constructive_ criticism, and suggestions. I originally wrote this as a long one shot, but I will keep it open in case I come up with something to continue it.

* * *

The Ultimate Rejection

by

Jack Bauer Reborn

It happened again. It happened almost every day for the last two years.

He was tired of it – he was beginning to realize that even he had limits. Sure, he could easily surpass the limits of any ordinary human being. He could take on those who weren't even human and beat them, passing what he thought were his own limits in the process. That didn't mean he was invincible. It meant that he hadn't been pushed far enough. It meant he hadn't discovered his limit.

In this case, he thought he was like a rubber band. Stretch it enough times, and it adapts. Eventually, you get a looser rubber band. Stretch it too far and it snaps.

He thought he was dangerously close reaching that point. He feared what happened when he did get there.

It wasn't so much that he was afraid for himself when he got there. It was others who may be nearby. He was worried about the way a rubber band reacted when it snapped – it was uncontrollable. He spent so much time controlling himself that he didn't know what it was like to be without that control. He had no clue how he would react without that safety valve regulating him.

He thought that if he lost control, he would seriously hurt others, and then he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

So, figuring that his only way out was to somehow ease the pressure on the rubber band that is his conscience, he figured that he should talk to someone. Supposedly venting to other people helped release the pressure. It was a simple solution, really, except that there was another problem.

There was no one he thought that he could trust to talk about his problems, and there were a lot of them. It was a wonder he was still sane. A psychiatrist would probably say that the only reason he had his sanity was his formidable will and drive to succeed when he put his mind to it. He never failed, and many people respected him for that. It was part of who he was, and he was raised that if he ever failed at anything, he would become a failure.

In this case, though, he thought that he may have no other choice but to fail since there were absolutely no options. He could invent new martial arts attacks on the fly and have them succeed, but he couldn't spontaneously create a _person_ that would listen to him and give him unbiased advice. Everybody he knew had an agenda, and those agendas worked against him almost every way possible.

For the hell of it, he thought, he might as well try going through the list of people again. It was possible he forgot something. Anything was possible, and for some reason, people always tended to bet _on_ him.

* * *

Looking up at the stars on the roof of his residence for the last two years, he thought he might have found a solution: his mother.

It just might work. His mother had no agenda that he knew of. His mother wasn't asking him to marry someone right away.

She hadn't called any priests or ministers without his knowledge. For that matter, she wasn't trying to marry him either, as funny as that sounds. At least his father was good for something. On the other hand, he was constantly amazed at the lengths his suitors and their friends will go to achieve their goal. Absolutely nothing was off limits. He figured it was called "Anything Goes" for a reason.

She also hadn't attacked him without provocation. Some of his friends had really taken to that – almost making him feel like it was becoming a pastime. He couldn't remember the last time his mother surprised him with a declaration that he should prepare to die. As a result of that, he had few material possessions – once he realized that he wasn't invincible, he figured that sooner or later his winning streak would end.

She didn't think he was perverted. She hadn't accused him of peeping on anyone and wasn't assuming that his mind was permanently fixated on thoughts of a sexual nature. He didn't have time to think about that when he was constantly fighting for his life, or those of others. It didn't make sense that the one person who accused him of this the most was the person he tried so hard to protect so many times.

She hadn't tried to extort money from him. He was penniless for the most part, so being blackmailed, extorted, and generally used on a regular basis left him with barely any money. The interest rates that were held against him were high, and the last time he checked, he probably wouldn't have more than a few thousand yen to his name for the next twenty years. That made the bookkeeping easier – he was bad with numbers since he was out of school since he was six.

She hadn't taken him on any protracted training trips in an attempt to make him into something. As a matter of fact, the protracted training trip he had been on caused him to turn into something nobody would have expected in their wildest dreams. Sometimes, it was an advantage to him. Most of the time, it was a source of psychological confusion that the most respected scholars in many fields would be completely stumped with.

And, of course, she was his mother. Mothers unconditionally loved their children. There was no doubt in his mind about that. Even a great-grandmother he knew would do almost anything for her great-granddaughter. Actually, skip the 'almost'. She would do _anything_, and would have no qualms about who it might hurt in the process. He wouldn't expect his mother to go the same lengths that others went, but she would help. She _had_ to. She was his mother.

He ran that over in his head a few more times, each time more hopeful that he would be more convinced that he would have a solution.

He did. His problem had been solved. He succeeded again, and he was elated, since this problem had been eating at him for eighteen months. He hoped that an end to the madness was in sight.

After a few more tries, it dawned on him that he had another problem. He actually didn't know his mother. Hell, he didn't even know her name.

He assumed his mother loved him. That was quite the assumption given the love-hate relationships he had.

He assumed his mother would help him. That was also quite the assumption considering that everybody he knew had an agenda and was willing to use him for its purposes.

Hell, he had even assumed that she would accept him. That was a big assumption, given his new ability from the aforementioned training trip.

At this point, though, he thought he had nothing to lose. He might as well find his mother and ask for help. If she asked for his life, as so many others had either rejected or outright attempted to terminate, then he might as well say yes. It would be the ultimate rejection.

Satisfied, he climbed off the roof and into his room, where his father, who had the same ability as him, was sleeping in his alternate form. Lying down, he closed his eyes to have one of the most comforting nights of sleep he had had in almost two years, which didn't say much about the quality of sleep since he had to always be aware.

His mind and body went into standby as he slept.

* * *

In the morning, Ranma Saotome was woken by his father. His father believed that one had to be up with the sun in order to have a productive day practicing and living The Art, except that his father didn't practice it except to insult Ranma. He had to figure out a way of finding out about his mother from someone, and while his father was the best source of information, he thought it was likely that asking his father would start another set of insults about 'crying home to mommy' and 'not being a real man'.

The next best solution would be to ask his father's best friend. It would definitely work, but since Soun Tendo's wife died, it was apparent that he had not recovered from that loss and would not. Kasumi, his eldest daughter, and the person who had taken over as the motherly figure in the Tendo family, always frowned when Soun cried. Then she would casually reach for a mop to clean up the mess. Ranma preferred not having to deal with that. At least he could insult his father when his father insulted him.

That afternoon, he was preparing himself for the frustration of asking his father, when Kasumi unknowingly presented part of a solution to him.

"Oh, look Mr. Saotome, you got a postcard!"

Looking up from his game of Anything Goes Shogi – a variation of shogi where any and all forms of cheating were tolerated – Genma Saotome figured this was worth his while.

"Oh?"

Kasumi passed the postcard to Genma, who read it carefully.

_I hope this postcard finds you well. I'm looking forward to meeting our son. _

_-Nodoka_

Genma panicked. When he did this, he usually jumped into the koi pond and tried the cute-and-cuddly act. Ranma tended to sneer at this since it continually proved that his father was a hypocrite. This time, he ran to his room, grabbed his and Ranma's pack, and ran for the door, picking up Ranma with his other hand. This was new.

"Now, Saotome, what seems to be the matter?" Soun asked.

"Sorry Tendo, but I really have to go. She's going to kill me," Genma responded hysterically.

Ranma pulled himself out of his father's grip. "Gee, pops, someone who wants to kill you. Why am I not surprised at all?"

"She'll kill you too, boy."

"Why?"

"Trust me. She's not one to forget little things."

At this point, the rest of the Tendo family had come together, and was just as curious as Ranma.

"What did you do to her, pops?"

Genma shuddered.

"I know! You stiffed her on a bill!" Nabiki, the middle Tendo daughter whose mind thought of money first and everything else second, suggested.

"Or she's a lost love looking to rekindle it!" Kasumi swooned.

Akane, the youngest Tendo, didn't know what to make of this. Knowing Genma's history of dishonesty, she said "Or maybe she's looking for revenge for something you did to her."

Genma didn't respond. He just needed a way out.

Frustrated, Ranma confronted Genma again. "What _did you do to her_, pop?"

"Trust me, boy, you wouldn't understand."

"Listen Saotome, if you tell us your problem, maybe we can help you through it," Soun suggested. He hoped that he might be able to reason with his best friend and training partner to get through this problem. It appeared to work, as Genma seemed to calm down. Ranma, however, did not.

"Who _is_ she?" Ranma asked, insisting on an answer. He was running out of patience, and he knew that when his father was hiding something, it was bad. His father acted like this when he brought Ranma into Nerima for the first time and announced his engagement to one of the Tendo sisters. He also worried that Nabiki would find some way to blackmail Ranma with whatever his dad was hiding.

"Please, Saotome, explain it to us."

"Well, you see, Tendo…" Genma started, "she's…"

Everybody leaned forward, even though they were well within earshot of Genma.

"She and I were … close many years ago."

Ranma couldn't believe that his father would pull out another lie in a situation like this. Even with his life on the line, Genma couldn't bring himself to the truth.

"Sure, pop. You expect me to believe that?"

"How close?" Nabiki asked. She could taste the juicy bits of intelligence on Genma, because if it dealt with Genma, it dealt with Ranma in some way. If it dealt with Ranma, Nabiki could exploit it.

"Please, Nabiki. Give him a chance. This is hard for him," Kasumi said, trying to encourage Genma to come to terms with this.

Ignoring Nabiki, Genma responded to Ranma. "Yes, boy, I do. I've done things you've only dreamed of."

"Whatever, pop. Who is she?"

Genma paused. There was no use in delaying any further, and Soun was right. If _she_ was coming to the Tendo home, he would need Soun's help to hide from her or make an escape.

"She's your mother, boy."

The Tendo daughters face faulted. Ranma was somewhat relieved. It appeared that he didn't have to go through the humiliation of asking his father who his mother was. He just wasn't sure he believed Genma.

"Prove it."

Genma reached into his walled and pulled out a piece of paper which had been folded twice. Unfolding it, he handed it to Ranma, who had the Tendos looking over his shoulder. The paper was a picture of a much younger and slimmer Genma, what looked like a four-year old Ranma, and a stately woman who had Ranma in his lap.

"You expect me to think this woman's my mom? Please. There's no way a good looking woman like her would go for the likes of you."

"Believe it, boy," Genma growled. "That was taken before the trip."

"OK, Saotome, that explains who she is, but why are you afraid of her? She seems nice."

Akane picked up the postcard. "But this was sent from the other side of Nerima. Didn't you know she was here?"

"You mean I've been in this town for two years and and I haven't met my mother yet? Why the hell did you do that?"

"I'm _hiding_ from her, you stupid boy, and you should be too."

"For kami's sake, pop, _why_?"

"When we left for trip, your mom refused. She –"

"If she refused, why the hell did we go?"

"Let me finish. She refused, saying it wouldn't do you any good to be without your mother for so long."

"No kidding, pop. I don't even remember my mom anymore."

Genma sneered. "So I made a deal with her. She wanted you to be a great man, so I told her that if I trained you well enough in martial arts, you would become a man among men."

Genma stopped uncomfortably. Soun asked, "Well, Ranma is clearly one of the best in the world in the Art. You succeeded at that."

"Yes, Tendo, I did", Genma said, beaming. "But Ranma isn't always a man."

"That's your fault, not mine, pop. She can't hold it against me."

"What happens if he's not a 'man amongst men', Mr. Saotome?" Kasumi asked, innocently.

"Well, to let us go, I said that we'd commit ritual seppuku if I failed. I signed a contract to hold us to it. She has it."

The Tendos stopped cold, wide eyed and staring at Genma. Ranma punched his father. "You idiot! What the hell did you do that for?"

"It was for your own good, boy. Look at the martial artist you are!"

"Except that its going to get us killed!" With that, Ranma stormed out of the room. He couldn't take anymore. The thought that his mother would ask for his death killed any hope of reconciliation with his mother that he thought he had.

Ranma wasn't a man, or at least, he wasn't one when cold water was around. Then he remembered what he thought the day before – he had nothing to lose and was going to die sooner or later anyway. He might as well have the one who gave him life take it away.

He was going to find his mother.

* * *

The next day at the Tendo household was the same as any other day, except that any sound that came from the vicinity of the door made Genma hide. Kasumi thought it was cute. Soun got annoyed that the shogi game kept getting interrupted when he was winning.

At Furinkan High, Ranma completely ignored all his classes. Akane would look at him and sneer, thinking that Ranma had to be coming up with some diabolical, yet perverted plan. One of his other suitors, Ukyo, was much closer in trying to guess what Ranma was thinking about – she thought that he might be coming to a decision on who to marry.

After school, Ranma bolted and didn't look back. He had his father's postcard in his hand. In his bookbag was a small tanto blade. Having been sent all over Nerima courtesy of Akane's constant use of her wooden mallet, Ranma didn't need a map.

After nearly an hour of traveling clear across Nerima, Ranma reached a townhouse complex with the address written on the postcard. Ranma started to worry.

What if she rejected him? He told himself that he'd kill himself, but that was small comfort.

Standing at the entrance to the complex, Ranma realized that he hadn't exactly figured out _how_ he was going to introduce himself or ask for help.

Ranma walked into the complex found the door to the unit where his mother lived, and knocked.

"Coming!"

The door opened to reveal the woman in the picture his father had the day before. It started to rain.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own _Ranma ½_. It's owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Comics. This isn't written for any form of profit.

This story assumes the anime timeline BEFORE the "Boy Meets Mom" episode at the end of Season 7. Essentially, this means that Ranma has not talked to Nodoka since leaving on the training trip with Genma. He has essentially no memory of her.

This is my first attempt at fan fiction. I invite comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions.

* * *

Nodoka Saotome looked around and sighed. She had spent the last few hours cleaning out one of the hallway closets in an attempt to find some old recipe books that had been packed away years ago. However, in the midst of her search she came across a small, dusty box pushed into a corner. 

_Hmm…What's this?_

She pulled out the box and opened it. Inside, she found several photographs of her, Genma, and Ranma from over a decade ago.

_Oh, I forgot about these_, thought Nodoka as she flipped though the pictures. She stopped at one picture of her kneeling with a little Ranma in her arms and Genma standing behind them.

"Ranma," she whispered. "I wonder how manly you've become."

She thought back to the day her husband and son left her. Genma had vowed to make Ranma "a man among men" and promised that he and Ranma would commit seppuku if they did not fulfill their promise. She wasn't worried though. She knew it in her heart that Ranma would be every bit as manly as she had hoped. That was why she was looking forward to seeing them for the first time in ten years at the Tendo residence. The Saotome family would finally be reunited again.

Nodoka smiled and dreamed of how her son would be the epitome of the perfect son. Not only would he be so handsome that he would rival some of today's rising Japanese movie stars but he would also be polite and well-mannered. He would be mindful of the traditions to which most teenagers seem to have turned their backs.

Thinking of what today's youth had become caused her to frown.

The idea of family honor above all else seemed to have all but disappeared as these kids selfishly cared only for themselves. She had seen many teenagers around her neighbourhood just sitting around being lazy while bragging to their friends about their latest material possessions while their parents worked long hours to support them. Nodoka shook her head and reached for her katana which was lying next to her. That katana had been passed down through the generations as a symbol of the family's martial arts heritage.

Nodoka did not adhere to all of the traditions all the time – she knew that there were occasions where they had to be bent or ignored. Traditions are not rules, and having been created hundreds of years ago, some of them were out of date and needed to be revised for the new, modern society within Japan. That society brought things that did not exist in the old times and they seriously complicate matters when it came to tradition.

Nodoka was brought out of her thoughts and memories when the doorbell rang. Putting down the pictures and the package, she got up to go to the door.

"Coming!"

When the Saotome matriarch opened the door, she found a five and a half foot tall boy looking at his feet and muttering about thanking Kami-sama for porches. Ranma looked up and immediately recognized the woman at the door as the woman in the picture, but was immediately speechless. Ranma's mouth gaped and his eyes widened. From Nodoka's point of view, the boy appeared to be shy and somewhat familiar. Ranma didn't know exactly how to interact with his mother. One simply does not walk up to their mother for the first time in ten years and say "Long time, no see, eh?"

"Dear?" Nodoka caught herself staring at the boy, thinking that his features were really close to her son's.

"Uh…Are you Nodoka Saotome?" Ranma winced, thinking that there were probably thousands of other ways that were better at asking for her identity.

"Why, yes, I am," Nodoka replied, curious as to where this was going.

Ranma reached into his pocket, and pulled out the picture. Unfolding it, he gave the picture to Nodoka. He was still trying to figure out how to break it to her that she was his mother. Nodoka's facial expression changed immediately as she recognized it as a copy of the picture she was looking at minutes before.

"How did you get this picture?" she asked rapidly while staring at the picture. "Do you know my husband Genma or my son Ranma?"

Ranma reminded himself that he had nothing to lose. "Uh…ah…Mrs. Saotome…there's no easy way to say this, so here goes…the little boy in the picture…is…"

"Ranma!" Nodoka exclaimed as she embraced Ranma. "I can't believe it's really you! " She started to sob. "My goodness, you finally came home!"

Nodoka held Ranma by the shoulders and looked him over. "You've grown up, and become so handsome. Please come in, we have so much to catch up and talk about." She released him and led him in. Ranma timidly followed.

Nodoka led Ranma to a table and motioned for him to take a place before she headed into the kitchen and quickly returned with a small tea set. After pouring some tea, Ranma moved to pick up his teacup, but thought twice. He realized that he had to say something eventually if he was going to get his mother to help him. In his mind, catching up on the last ten years could wait. He needed a solution to his problems and an answer to a burning question he had about her right now.

Would his mother love him even with this curse? He had no idea.

"Uh…Mrs. Saotome…" Ranma started.

Nodoka smiled. "Goodness Ranma, I'm your _mother_ for kami's sake. Please call me 'mom' like you used to."

"Er...ok, mom…I…need your help with something, but there's something you need to know." Ranma lowered his head. The steely resolve he relied on regularly was missing. When Ranma looked at the floor, Nodoka realized that Genma was not there.

"What happened to your father, Ranma? Did something happen to him?"

Ranma took the question as an opportunity to ease his mother into explaining the curse.

"He's fine…sort of. About two and a half years ago Pop took me to a legendary training area in China called Jusenkyo."

Nodoka beamed. It seemed to her that Genma really went out of his way to make Ranma a great martial artist. Hopefully, he did the same when it came to making Ranma a real man.

"The training grounds were made up of thousands of springs. When we were there, the guide who was with us kept trying to tell us something, but we had no idea what he was saying since we didn't know any Chinese. We ended up ignoring him and continued with the training. After a while, Pop fell into one of the springs.

"And he…uh…came out of the pool as a panda."

Nodoka stared at Ranma. She had known her son for a total of five minutes and he had already told her a lie. Not just any lie, a _completely unbelievable_ lie. Ranma wasn't living up to expectations, and Ranma's face looked like he had absolutely no remorse whatsoever about lying to his own mother.

"Ranma, please don't lie to me. It's not respectful, especially to your mother." Nodoka lectured while wondering exactly what Genma had been teaching her son.

Ranma threw up his hands as if to say he was surrendering. "No, mom, I'm serious. Pop turned into a panda." He paused. "The training grounds in China are cursed. If you fall into one of the springs, then you take the form of whatever drowned in that spring. Pop fell into the Spring of Drowned Panda, so Pop takes the form of a panda. Eventually, we were able to figure out that hot water changes Pop from a panda to a human and cold water changes him from a human to a panda."

Nodoka continued staring. Her husband turns into a panda with cold water?

She didn't faint. She didn't know what to think. Her husband, for all intents and purposes, could wind up in a zoo. This was not at all like the vision of her reunited family that she had been daydreaming about for ten years. This was far from traditional, and it scared the hell out of her. Genma's curse seriously complicated matters.

She was so scared that a minute passed before she moved. To Ranma, it was an eternity. He could read his mother – a decade of training in martial arts included extensive study in analyzing opponents – and it was clear that she was disappointed.

What infuriated and frustrated Ranma was that he knew he had to further disappoint her.

And here he was, trying to get help from someone whom he thought he was disappointing.

"Er…mother?"

Nodoka was still lost in her own thoughts. The notion of having a husband that was a zoo animal half the time remained with her, and she couldn't push it completely out of her mind. Maybe her tea wasn't strong enough for this, but her mind slowly began to recover from the shock.

Realizing that Ranma was trying to get her attention, Nodoka looked at him, and his face said something that he didn't have to say out loud.

"There's more."

"After Pop fell in the Spring of Drowned Panda, he came out and attacked me like he was still training. I didn't expect a panda to come out of the spring, so I wasn't ready and I…"

Nodoka braced herself.

"I…I fell." Ranma lowered his head, where another uneasy pause followed. Ranma was thankful that this one was much shorter. It was clear to his mother that Ranma thought that whatever he turned into was significantly worse than Genma's curse.

"Into one of the springs?"

Ranma nodded.

"Which one?"

"Spring of Drowned Girl."

"You… turn into a girl?"

Ranma nodded again, keeping his head low. A fire started burning within his mother.

Nodoka felt a burning rage growing inside her. Without thinking, Nodoka splashed her cold tea in Ranma's face, triggering his curse.

"Hey! What did you do that for?"

Any lingering doubt about Ranma lying to her disappeared, but it was replaced with thoughts that were much, much worse.

Her _son_ turned into a _girl._ He would never be the man among men she had always wanted. How could he earn any respect among his peers if he was constantly changing sexes?

Nodoka had always wanted grandchildren, and had expected Ranma to be the father of those kids. But this curse meant that Ranma could also become the mother.

She was getting ahead of herself. Children? How could Ranma even have kids if he was constantly changing sexes? There was no way that Soun Tendo would want his daughter to marry Ranma. What woman in her right mind would marry him? What man would?

The prospect of men being with Ranma disgusted Nodoka. Ranma was male, except when the curse kicked in. Based on what Ranma said about Genma, Ranma probably still had his male personality when female. That meant that Ranma could be called a homosexual when he was female.

Nodoka didn't have issues with homosexuals, but then she hadn't really talked to one either. She had watched enough TV for the stereotypes to have an effect on her, and she didn't know a positive one. She was indifferent to them, except that now it was _her_ son that had this 'problem'. That changed everything in her mind. She knew how well labels stuck to people, even if they weren't accurate. From what she had seen, not one gave a damn about the traditions to which she tried to stay true.

It was obvious that Ranma wasn't traditional. There weren't any traditions that could be bent or carefully ignored for him. He was a sex-changing freak of nature, and he was her son.

The shame would be borne for generations. The shame that started with her.

With that, the happy image of her future family completely shattered, and the fire burning within her made her blood boil. Rational thought stepped aside to let emotions take over as Nodoka reached for her katana, eyes closed.

She might as well not have a son. She didn't know the person who was sitting in front of her, and she was definitely not related to her.

The change in Nodoka's emotions was not lost on Ranma, and his mind drifted to the blade in his bookbag and Nodoka's increasingly tighter grip on the handle of her sword.

"Mom?"

"Leave. Now."

"Huh?"

"GET OUT!"

Ranma quickly got up and started to back towards the door. The only thing holding back Nodoka from drawing her sword was that Ranma actually was her child.

"Wait, mom…please." Nodoka didn't even register that Ranma said anything. "I need your help-"

Nodoka continued to advance on Ranma, making him continue to the door. "Help? Why the hell would I help you? I don't even know what you are."

"But you don't understand…" Ranma said, tears welling in his eyes.

"What's to understand? You aren't my son. My son isn't this…this…freak. You aren't even male – you _can't_ be my son."

"I am! I…" Ranma backed into the door.

"You're nothing. You were supposed to be a man among men. You were supposed to do great things. Now leave, before I use this," Nodoka said, starting to draw the katana.

Ranma picked up his bookbag, opened the door and stepped out. He wasn't going to get into a fight with his own mother. When he turned around, the door was closing in his face.

"Don't come back" was the last thing he heard as the door slammed.

Ranma stood in front of the door, where this ordeal had started. His tanto was still in the bag, and he suddenly realized that he didn't even get a chance to offer his life to his mother, so that there would be at least a witness to show some honour.

He doubted she would take it. It was tainted.

He wept. It was over.

He had just experienced the ultimate rejection, and he didn't have the will to continue fighting this hopeless battle. He had failed to solve his problem, which meant he was a failure. He was nothing, as his mother had stated.

Worthless. Useless. A freak.

He couldn't even get someone to be his second when he wanted to commit seppuku. He wondered if he even _had_ any honour, especially after his mother disowned him.

This had to end. He didn't just want to die, he needed to die.

Ranma turned and headed for the nearest shrine. Maybe the kamis would accept his life. They had been playing with it for as long as he could remember.

* * *

"Don't come back," Nodoka said, as she slammed the door in Ranma's face. 

Overcome with emotions, Nodoka fell back against the door and dropped her katana. It clattered against the wooden floor. Tears were falling freely from her face now but she made no attempt to wipe them away.

"The kamis must be mocking me," she thought bitterly.

In the short span of twenty minutes everything she had hoped for had come crashing down on her. She was married to a giant panda and her son, her own flesh and blood, turned out to be nothing more than a freak of nature.

"What did I ever do to deserve this?" she sobbed as her knees finally gave way and she collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Author's Notes: 

I'll be honest here – this was a hard chapter to write. Some parts of it seemed forced to me. I had a very hard time separating Nodoka from someone I know, and Takahashi didn't spend a lot of time on the rest of Nodoka's character because it didn't help the comedic portion of canon. I did my best to keep to canon (if the anime can be considered canon with respect to Nodoka is debatable since she only appears in two episodes) and keep her human, but please let me know if I lost my way or seem to be wavering.

Thanks to my girlfriend - who did tons of work on the final bit - and to all who reviewed Chapter 1.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own _Ranma ½_. It's owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Comics. This isn't written for any form of profit.

This story assumes the anime timeline BEFORE the "Boy Meets Mom" episode at the end of Season 7. Essentially, this means that Ranma has not talked to Nodoka since leaving on the training trip with Genma. He has essentially no memory of her.

This is my first attempt at fan fiction. I invite comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions.

I'm keeping Ranma with masculine gender pronouns despite his current sex.

* * *

_Where the hell is he?_

Akane Tendo was extremely frustrated, and she felt that she had a damn good reason why. Of course, she had to find the object of her frustration in order to calm down. That just happened to be her primary task.

It wasn't uncommon for her fiancé to simply disappear for short periods of time without a trace and no hints as to his whereabouts. In the insanity that is Nerima, and with her fiancé simply being himself, this happened with alarming frequency. In fact, she had started to worry when this type of event had not happened over a three week period.

What was uncommon was that her fiancé was seen leaving Furinkan High. Nobody had a clue as to where he went. Ranma seemed to get attacked randomly, but his challengers always approached him first. He never had to go after someone to beat them in a fight. He never had a chance to open a fight with "Prepare to die" or "Die, you demonic cur".

Today he left and didn't look back. Challengers would just have to wait. Challengers for Ranma's hand would have to wait as well.

Akane, in the stalemate of a war that was competing for Ranma, never really thought she had much of a chance. Ukyo could cook, was respected as a fighter, and when she wanted to, she could be really feminine. Shampoo was better looking – or at least, she knew how to flaunt her sexuality better – and a better fighter as well as being a better cook than Akane. Akane hated to lose, just as much if not more than her fiancé, and the fact that she thought she was trailing well behind her competition continually infuriated her. Ranma's father and her father helped her case, but she would like to win this on her own, the way she used to defeat martial artists before the Saotomes and the chaos arrived.

One could say that she wanted to feel vindicated.

Worthy.

Respected.

Especially by _him_.

On the other hand, she never quite figured out why she was competing for someone she repeatedly professed that she didn't care about. Why would she care about him? He repeatedly professed that she was 'sexless' and 'uncute', and refused to train her in the Art, despite calling her a tomboy.

_That jerk._

There was also an element of worry, since Ranma had been the one person who had been consistent in protecting her. He had gone to great lengths to protect her – putting him in much greater danger than her at times – without hesitation. There were also times where she had come to his aid because she felt he needed it.

It was that worrying feeling that had her out at night, hours after school ended. She wasn't feeling like this until she had a conversation with her older sister.

"Ranma? Where are you!?"

Flashback

"Tadaima!"

Kasumi, wiping her hands on an apron that never seemed to get dirty even if she was helping Akane cook, walked out of the kitchen. "Hello Akane, did you have a good day at school today?"

"It was pretty good. History was really interesting."

Genma peeked at Akane and Kasumi while not moving his head to prevent Soun from cheating at shogi. "Where's that ungrateful fiancé of yours, Akane?"

"Why should I care? He's probably off with Shampoo or his _cute_ fiancée or something. He ran away from school before anyone could try to stop him", Akane fired back, thinking that Genma had implied that Ranma's absence was somehow her fault.

Nabiki walked in. "Sorry I'm late. I had some … business with Ukyo and Shampoo. It seems they want to know why they couldn't find Ranma after school today so I took some money as a fee to look for him." Akane growled. _Why do they have to try so damn hard?_

Upon hearing this, Kasumi sighed. It was time to have a chat with her little sister. She led Akane into her room, and closed the door after them.

"Akane, I think something might be wrong with Ranma."

"You mean his perversity?" Akane hadn't calmed from Genma's provocation.

"No, Akane, think about it." Kasumi paused. "For the first time in ten years, Ranma found out about his mother, learned that his father has been hiding him from her, and then was told that his mother might want to kill him."

Akane blinked, taking this in. She had not had her mother around in a similar length of time. She had so many positive memories of her, but because of the chaos surrounding her life, she did not have time to reflect on her relationship with Kimiko Tendo.

Kasumi continued. "That is a lot for one person to handle. What would you do if you were in his shoes?"

This was easy for Akane. "Simple. Explain what happened. Mommy would have listened."

"Are you sure, Akane?"

Akane nodded. "Of course. Mommy always believed us."

"Akane, I want you to be honest with me. When was the last time you really sat down and listened to Ranma and what he had to say?"

Akane opened her mouth as if to answer, but did not.

Sighing and thinking that Akane's tendency to extrapolate from one person to many might be her downfall, Kasumi chose her words carefully.

"Do you think Ranma's mother will understand him?"

"Why wouldn't she? She's his mother after all."

"Mrs. Saotome also has a promise that Ranma will come back as a man among men."

Akane's face lost all expression as she remembered Ranma's reaction to that news the night before.

"Akane, you say you don't understand him and you've known him for two years. Do you think Mrs. Saotome will understand him after she hasn't known him for ten?" Kasumi repeated.

Akane didn't understand Kasumi's point completely, but that wasn't needed. It was almost as if Kasumi, the nicest person she knew, was trying to imply something bad about Ranma's mother. That didn't make sense.

_But then Kasumi _did_ say that…_

_And Ranma _does_ have something to explain…_

_And Mrs. Saotome probably _is_ serious about the seppuku stuff…_

"Don't hold dinner for me."

She prayed that she could remember the address on the postcard she read the previous night.

End Flashback

* * *

Ranma approached the shrine with some trepidation. As much as he thought that he needed to die to solve the problems surrounding his life honourably, he was not looking forward to it. Few look forward to death. Some declare before battle that 'today is a good day to die', but there was nothing special about this day that made that statement true.

If he was going to do this, though, she was going to do it alone. There was no need to traumatize innocent bystanders by letting them watch or have strangers stop him half way and attempt to save his life. In a way, it was his way of saying that since he was given the task of solving the fiancées and the rivals alone, doing this on his own was the right way to solve the problem.

Walking up the stairs to enter the shrine, his thoughts went back to his mother. The sting of being thrown out of the house by her had worn off and had turned into a dull ache – something that would always bother him, but never took priority in his mind. She had hoped that his mother would see past the curse and offer her help to deal with the fiancées. Sure, that would require admitting that he had no experience in dealing with the fairer sex despite being a part-time member of it, but he was willing and it was not as if he was not used to the baptism-by-fire method of learning.

Ranma noticed that the shrine was nearly empty. There were a few people about, but he figured that he would appear to be someone looking to meditate and nobody would bother him. He was actually surprised that he had not been followed to her mother's and the shrine, and wondered what she would do if he was interrupted. Wordsmithing was not one of his skills – he did not want to know what he would say when one of his fiancées found him at a shrine wondering what she was doing writing.

Ranma found a corner and started to reflect on his life, hoping to compose something meaningful for his haiku.

* * *

As she leaned against her front door, Nodoka Saotome's tears dried on her face.

The 40-year-old ex-mother, as she put it to herself, was staring at the katana with which she was heavily considering killing her ex-son. She could not understand exactly what happened to her. Nothing seemed to make sense to her anymore.

Except that she had disowned that _thing_ that claimed to be her son.

She was justifying her actions to herself repeatedly, saying that it was for her own good and the good of her family. It was, of course, the logical thing to do.

_No, it was the _right_ thing to do. Anybody in my position would have done the same thing._

Picking herself up, Nodoka found the picture that Ranma had given her when he arrived at her home. They were happy, and looking forward to the future. None of them, especially the four-year old in the picture, could have predicted what happened earlier. She had spent so much time looking forward to the future that she had no idea what to do next.

Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she didn't know who she was anymore.

It was easy to define herself as someone who was waiting for her honourable husband and manly son to return from a trip that made her son into a man among men. She had used that definition of herself, and had done what she thought fit the role of a traditional Japanese wife in that kind of a role.

_Because that's what I am. That's what I stand for._

What she could not understand about all of this was why she had this sinking feeling that she had made a very serious mistake.

Thinking that she needed to clear her head, she went to her room, washed her face, and put on a new kimono. Going to the nearby park would be good for her since she could relax with the scenery and let the stress bleed off. Then she would go to see Genma and inform him of what happened. After all, he had a right to know that he no longer had a son as well.

Then she would enforce the contract.

* * *

Akane was several hours into her search for Ranma when she came upon a shrine at the northern end of Nerima and had cooled off somewhat from when she was frustrated earlier. Knowing that Nabiki had been retained by her competition meant that it was highly unlikely that she would run into Shampoo or Ukyo, but Kodachi was a possibility. The last thing she wanted at the moment was being called a commoner while looking for her fiancé.

Akane was not sure if it was worth her time to check out the shrine. While Ranma had been known for meditation from time to time, he was not one for doing so away from the roof of the Tendo home. There was, however, a forest which backed onto the shrine, and she thought that Ranma might have gone into the forest to be away from it all.

Walking up the stairs, she scanned the area for someone who might resemble Ranma. All she found was a monk who was looking into the wildlife.

"Is there something I can help you with, young one?"

"Um…have you seen a teenage girl with red hair or a boy with black hair and a pigtail at the shrine lately?"

* * *

Ranma was staring at the piece of paper on the ground in front of him.

"Um, have you seen a teenage girl with red hair or a boy with black hair and a pigtail at the shrine lately?"

_Oh crap…_

* * *

"Yes, about an hour ago. There was a red-haired girl here."

Akane's eyebrows shot up. "Where?"

* * *

_I gotta get the hell out of here…_

He moved to put his writing utensils and paper in his bookbag.

* * *

The monk, who had not moved since Akane started asking questions, responded with "near the northeastern corner, behind the statue."

Akane turned around as fast as she could, ready to run.

"Young one, she wanted to be alone."

Akane started to run, nearly tripping over herself. Following a path to the corner of the shrine that the monk referred to, she went into a full sprint, restraining herself just enough so that she could stop without throwing herself into the gardens.

That was when she saw the statue and a girl's hand placing things into a school bag and getting up to leave.

"Ranma!"

* * *

"Ranma!"

_She's pissed too…_

Ranma went into a panic mode, and ran, looking back to see that he wasn't being followed.

* * *

Akane grabbed the arm of the girl from who was leaving.

"Hey! What the heck are you doing?"

The adrenaline started to leave Akane's bloodstream and she came to her senses. The unknown girl did not have red hair.

"You're not Ranma…"

"Who?"

"Oh…" Akane blushed, "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

The unknown girl gave her a look.

"I'm sorry…really."

The brunette turned around, and left for the entrance of the shrine. Akane went back the way she came, thinking she made a mistake and was not where she should be. The shrine was not exactly rectangular.

At that point, she was run over by a red-headed teenager in full sprint.

* * *

Yet even more Author's Notes:

Comments, questions, beefs, reviews, and death threats are welcome. No flames please. For the record, saying "your story needs work" is not a flame. Saying "get back on the boat" is. I'm a little curious that I haven't seen a negative review and am wondering if the 'no flames, please' is killing good feedback because of misinterpretation.

Chapter 4 will have the story pick up a bit of steam.

Thanks to all the reviewers of Chapter 1 and 2 and my girlfriend for editing and pointing out some gender confusion. I hope I answered some of your questions. I'm already working on Chapter 4 – it shouldn't take another six weeks to get it out.

Oh, and if anybody can point me to a list of common Japanese phrases or terms that are normally used in fan fiction and their English translations, that would be awesome. For example, I know that 'koi' is a type of carp, but I've sometimes seen it used as a proper noun and only have an idea of its use in that context.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **

I don't own _Ranma ½_. It's owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Comics. This isn't written for any form of profit.

**Author's Notes:**

One thing I do have to say is that in situations like these, authors do the whole "Ranma gives up and runs away" or "Ranma snaps and kicks butt six ways from Sunday" thing. These events are needed as a plot device to set up the rest of the context for the story and not really explained well. In my experience, the majority of these kinds events play out more in people's _minds_ than their _words_ in real life, which is why I'm spending a lot of time trying to give you an idea of what each character is thinking and how that interacts with their world view. It drags the plot a bit – OK, a lot – but I think that it makes the characters a bit more human and it is the perspectives that I'm working with here, not necessarily an epic length plot.

As a result, I intend this story to take place over a matter of a few days. Akane and Nodoka are central to the story - Nodoka probably more so than Akane - which is why I've spent almost no time on everybody else in previous chapters, but most of the others make an appearance here.

* * *

Akane was dazed after her standstill collision with a random stranger who clearly was not looking where she was going. The stranger took the worst of it though – while she only ended up being knocked down and taking a bump in the head, the stranger ended up sprawled out face up on the pathway and the contents of her book bag spilling out. Akane guessed that the stranger might have actually flipped over her.

"Hey! Why don't you watch where you're going?"

With the focus returning to her eyesight, she slowly stood up and went to look at the person who ran into her.

_Hmm…red shirt…black pants…red hair in a pigtail…_

"Ranma?"

"Ugh…feels like running into a brick wall at full speed…"

Akane bristled. The main reason why she did not use a mallet was that Ranma was semiconscious and it would be a complete waste of energy. On the other hand, she would use it if she thought Ranma insulted her again.

The fog in Ranma's head began to clear, only to have him become wide eyed when he saw Akane wielding a mallet and moving cautiously towards him. Ranma started to backtrack, and saw his empty book bag.

"Baka! Where the hell did you go after class?" screamed Akane.

"I just went…to see someone" mumbled Ranma, unable to come up with a good lie under pressure. Ranma's eyes darted back and forth between the imposing mallet and Akane's face of rage.

"Someone?" Akane echoed. Then her eyes narrowed. "You were out on a date with another girl weren't you?"

"No! I wasn't on a date!"

"Which one was it? The crazy gymnast?"

"Kodachi? Come on, tomboy! When have I ever wanted to be within ten feet of that nutjob?"

Akane paused, her grip on the mallet handle tightening.

"Don't lie to me!" _What do you have to hide this time? _Who_ do you have to hide? _Akane was seeing red.

"Nothing, Akane, really!" Ranma said, getting frustrated. "You have got to believe me!"

"Believe you? Why should I believe you? You always protect the bitch you try to hide."

Ranma snarled. "She is _not_ some bitch!" Ranma checked himself. Something about that statement did not make sense to him in light of what had happened earlier, but he did not have time to think about it.

"Aha! You _were _with a girl!"

"No! Give me a chance to ex-"

"Explain what, Ranma?"

"I was _not_ on a date! Honest! Dammit Akane, listen to me!"

"Why should I trust you, Ranma? You're nothing but a pervert!"

Akane was in a rage, but Kasumi's words came back to haunt her. _"Akane, when was the last time you really sat down and listened to Ranma and what he had to say?"_

Akane pushed Kasumi out of her mind. Akane was right, after all.

Something in Ranma snapped. He turned around and faced Akane, his eyes burning with rage. "Is that all I am to you?" He picked himself up from the ground and started shoving his things in his bookbag.

Akane blinked.

"Every day it's the same damn thing. You accuse me of cheating or someone _hints_ that I might be doing something that you don't like," Ranma said, using his fingers as quotation marks to emphasize his words, "then you attack and damn near kill me with your mallet. Then you find out the truth either from Nabiki or someone else and don't even apologize half the time for it."

Akane decided to tow the party line. "Most of the time, that _is_ what you're doing."

"Most of the time, I don't have any control over the situation! Ever stop to think about that?"

"I never needed to."

"Dammit Akane, that's your problem! Don't you get it?"

"_My_ problem? If you acted like the man you say you are, you would have dropped Ukyo, Shampoo, and _her_ a long time ago! What kind of man has four fiancées and can't choose one?"

Ranma started to grip his red hair, as if to pull it out in frustration. "How many of those fiancées were my choice?"

"Why does that matter?"

"It matters to everything! Hell, _you_ didn't even choose me as a fiancé. Your _sisters_ did for you. I didn't even know about the Amazon laws, and I was six when I talked to Ukyo! Do you honestly think I understood what marriage meant when I was six? And Kodachi made herself a fiancée – all I did was prevent her from breaking something when she tripped."

Ranma sighed. "None of this, Akane, is what I wanted. All I wanted when I came here was to be the best. Now I wonder how much of that was because I really want to be the best or because of my dad pounding it into me long enough that I started to tell myself that I wanted to be the best to make his idea of training hurt less."

"What does that have to do with me and the other girls?"

"I didn't ask for any them or you to be my fiancée."

"Huh?"

"Weren't you listening? The curse, the fiancées, the craziness...I want none of this. I'm not even sure I want to be the best martial artist anymore." Ranma kneeled to collect the rest of his things.

Akane paused, the initial anger passed, but still holding her mallet. "So what do you want?"

"Out."

"Huh?"

"I want out. I want it to end. I can't fix the problems, and you are all better off without me in the picture."

Anger coming to a boil again, she responded "So you're just going to _leave_ everybody here without fixing your mess?"

"I've tried for two years Akane, and things are probably worse now than they were when Ukyo came into the picture."

"So not only are you selfish, you're a coward too?"

"No, I'm trying to save what's left of yours and my honour, as well as that of everybody else."

"Honour? What honour? How can you talk about honour when you're constantly sneaking around on me with those other hussies?"

Having placed almost all of his things in his bookbag, he finally found the tanto blade lying in a dark corner. His back still towards Akane, he thought about his words for a second and then pointed to it.

"If I had no honour, then I would have no need for that."

Akane's eyes turned to saucers. "I..."

"You what? You're going to drag me back to your house where you can beat me up some more? So our fathers can bully me into marrying you when you don't want it? So your sister can suck every yen I have?"

"I..."

"So you can continue calling me an honourless bastard?"

Akane's mouth was open, but no words were forthcoming.

"Let me ask you something, Akane...if you were me, what the hell would you do?"

Kasumi came back to Akane's mind. _"What would you do if you were in his shoes?"_

Silence followed. Ranma was clearly agitated, and Akane was moving back and forth between trying to remain angry and trying to comprehend what Ranma was saying.

"You don't understand, Akane, you never did and you never tried. Nobody did. Kasumi is the only one who probably has an idea of what I'm going through, and even then, she's nowhere close to understanding it all either. All you do is hit first and ask questions later. You let yourself get tricked all the time by Nabiki and Shampoo, and then blame me."

He placed the tanto in his bag. "If you actually took the time to understand maybe you wouldn't be so judgmental."

Akane dropped her mallet. "Ranma", she whispered, reaching out to put a hand on Ranma's shoulder. Akane's shadow gave her away.

"Don't touch me!" snarled Ranma. Akane jumped back two feet. "It's too late for you to start caring now, and I don't think you _can_ care."

Akane was put back further by that statement. It hurt her differently than the more casual insults that Ranma tended to throw around. Ranma had just said that he thought that she was incapable of caring for her fiancé.

She thought she could be good for him. He almost told her to drop out of the race. Tears started forming in her eyes.

What's worse, Ranma had a tanto blade and was willing to use it on himself, as a result of her actions.

_Is that why he went to another girl? Because he couldn't talk to me?_

Kasumi haunted her again. _"Akane, when was the last time you really sat down and listened to Ranma and what he had to say?" _

Akane was ashamed when she realized that this may have been the first time that she listened, and even then, she did not listen immediately and she really did not like what she heard. With the conversation Kasumi had with her still in her mind, Akane decided that she had some soul searching to do. She fell to her knees and started to cry.

Noticing that Akane had been silent for a while, Ranma decided to leave.

He stopped half way, turned back his head toward Akane and spoke quietly. "By the way, if you really need to know, that 'bitch' I went to see was my mother."

_I called his mother a bitch?_ Akane did not know that it was possible to feel this badly. _I accused him of sneaking around with his mother? _

"What happened?" Akane was choking the words out.

_Please Kami-sama…let this not be too bad…_

"Long story short…it wasn't a heartwarming reunion."

Akane's heart broke. Ranma turned to leave and started to walk.

"According to her, I no longer have a mother."

Akane remained, completely frozen and wracked with guilt.

* * *

Night had fallen faster than Nodoka had expected. As a result, there were fewer people in the park as she had expected. A cool breeze had also found its way through this area of Nerima. She stoically shifted her hands so that they did not get too cold holding her wrapped katana.

Normally bustling with activity, the park was clear because of the nightfall and parents would have put the children to bed.

"Nodoka!"

Nodoka turned her head to look around and kept walking. Nobody was nearby that she knew.

"Nodoka!"

As Nodoka was about to turn again, she was startled to see her cousin, Mei, trying to catch up with her. While Nodoka was an only child, she had spent much of her childhood playing with Mei, especially since Mei was only two years older than her. They were effectively sisters and referred to each other as such, but as they grew up, they started to drift apart.

Nodoka sighed. _I don't want to talk to her now._ Mei, on the other hand, could be quite the conversationalist.

"Something on your mind?"

"Hmm? Me? No, nothing. Why?"

"You're a horrible liar, imouto-chan."

"I'm not lying, Mei. I'm just out for a walk."

"You're never out this late at night."

_Might as well humour her._ "Fine. Something is on my mind. I'm not going to talk about it though."

Mei grinned. "That's ok. I'll walk with you."

Nodoka raised her hand. "That's quite alright. There's no need to go out of your way for me."

After nearly ten minutes of silence, the pair walked past a young couple pushing a stroller. Nodoka made an effort not to look at them, which was not lost on Mei.

"So, imouto-chan, when was your last contact with your husband? Is he still running around the continent teaching your son how to be a man amongst men?"

Nodoka blinked, as if she lost concentration on something, and continued to stare ahead of her. Realization dawned on Mei.

"Ah, so that's what's on your mind. You miss them, don't you?"

"Well…" _Damn. I just proudly disowned my son and I'm going to kill my husband because of an agreement we made over ten years ago. _Mei waited.

_Wait…this isn't any of her concern anyway._ "It's a family matter. There is no need for you to get involved."

"Oh?"

"Onee-chan, please. I have to take care of some serious business between myself, my…husband, and…son."

"What kind of serious business could you possibly have if you haven't seen them in ten years?"

Nodoka kept walking.

"Honestly, Nodoka, what's all this about? You're normally so happy to talk about how proud you are of your great husband who's out training your manly son. What happened? What changed?"

Nodoka ignored her. _Why do you care anyway?_

"Have you even talked to Genma since you decided to take on this 'serious business'?"

"Mei, I said I don't want to talk about it. It's personal, and I don't want to talk about it."

Mei's eyes went wide. "You haven't even talked to Genma! Do you have any contact with him at all? Or with Ranma?"

Nodoka got angry. "Genma is _not_ your husband and Ranma is _not_ your son. Leave it alone. This is _my_ problem and I _will_ handle it myself."

"No," Mei said, stepping in front of Nodoka. "You're not going anywhere until you explain to me what you're doing and why. And don't even _think_ about pulling that katana of yours – I know you won't use it on me."

Nodoka glared at Mei. "Fine. Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"To see Genma."

* * *

Akane walked home, completely dejected, and dreading the route home because she knew that it would take her past the two places she did not want to be near: Ucchan's and the Nekohanten.

Ukyo saw Akane walk by while she was taking down her restaurant sign for the night and figured that if Akane was this upset, this could be her chance to press her for information. _Then there would only be Shampoo as my competition._

_But first, I need to know where Ranma is_.

"What did you do to him this time? Send him to Siberia?"

"What didn't I do to him?" Akane asked, sniffling.

"Have another fight?"

"Yeah..."

_Yes! Play it cool now..._

"So", Ukyo said, putting her hands behind her back, trying to look innocent, "what happened?"

_"_Ranma made up his mind."

"Ranma _chose_?"

When Akane did not respond immediately, Ukyo grinned.

_Ranma chose...and Akane's crying, so she's out...and Ranma swears up and down that he'll never go back to China with that Amazon, so Shampoo is out...and he hates being with Kodachi..._

_Ranma chose _me

"Not really."

Ukyo did not register that last comment, as she ran ahead of Akane to the Tendo household to greet the fiancé that had finally accepted the _cute_ one.

Shampoo, in cat form and on a balcony next to the pair, had made a similar decision and decided to race there as well – while she was confident that Ranma chose her, she figured a last ditch effort of persuasion could not hurt as well.

Akane kept walking home.

* * *

The Tendo matriarch sighed and looked at the clock, staring into space with a cup of tea in her hand. It was well past her normal bedtime, since she was the first one up every morning to take care of the family. She never complained about her duties, since it truly made her happy in every sense of the word, but it had its set of physical and emotional tolls that were pushing the 20-year-old.

She was so used to giving direction to others so freely that she never stopped to ask _why_ so many people looked to her and if she was giving the right kind of direction.

After her talk with her little sister, she began to have doubts in herself.

How does someone who is frequently referred to as angelic raise a sister without a conscience and another who does not understand how to interact with others without resorting to violence?

_Where did I go wrong?_

Then there was her latest charge – Ranma Saotome – who seemed to be under all sorts of pressure without any form of release, and she did next to nothing to help him out with his problems. She sometimes wondered if the reason why all the fiancées treated him like an object was because she and Nabiki pushed him on to Akane within minutes of finding out he was half-woman, creating some twisted precedent. She hoped that his mother would not treat him as badly as everyone else had.

_It is never that simple._

Looking over at Soun and Genma playing shogi, she wondered wondered how responsible she was in Ranma's situation, since she knew of the fathers' plans to force a wedding well before Ranma or Akane found out about them. Because Kasumi made no attempt to dissuade them, they kept going, and the _status quo_ never changed.

_Oh my, it _is_ that simple._

Kasumi was about to wash her teacup when she heard a knock from the gate to the compound. Reflexively, she went over to welcome whoever was there.

"You did _what_?!?"

Mei was shocked. What Nodoka had just told her had changed the way Mei thought of Nodoka.

"Why did you do that?" Mei asked.

Nodoka was about to answer when a young woman opened the gate.

Kasumi was somewhat confused, since she did not know if the two women had stopped to have an argument in front of the door, were actually visitors to the Tendo household, or both. The face of the woman on the left was flushed, while the other was showing a strained calm.

The woman on the right, who was a little familiar, stepped forward.

"Hello?"

"Ah, yes. My name is Nodoka Saotome. I'm looking for my husband Genma. Is he still staying here?"

"Nodoka, what are you doing?"

"Can I help you?" Kasumi asked the other woman.

"I'm sorry. Where are my manners? This is Mei, my cousin." Nodoka motioned towards Mei. Kasumi introduced herself and let them in.

"Mr. Saotome is playing shogi with my father," said Kasumi. "I think he has been expecting you." She led them towards the room where Soun and Genma were.

"Nodoka, answer me! What are you doing?" Mei hissed, not wanting to start an argument inside someone else's house.

Nodoka did not respond, except to unwrap and swiftly draw her katana.

Genma turned his head toward the hallway. Something did not feel right. He could havve sworn he heard Kasumi talking to another woman with a very familiar voice.

"Something wrong, old friend?" asked Soun, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Did you hear something? I thought I heard voices in the hallway."

"Hmph…don't think I'll fall for that trick this time Saotome."

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled Genma as he went back to contemplating his next move. He was so preoccupied that he did not realize three additional people entered the room.

"Oh, Mr. Saotome, you have a-" started Kasumi.

Genma felt something cool and metallic resting at the base of his neck.

"Genma dear," Nodoka said calmly, "We need to talk."

* * *

Mei was floored as Nodoka began to rail against Genma. A lot of it was justified in her mind, especially since Nodoka seemed to be lashing out against him for keeping Ranma away from her for so long. That did not, however, justify what Nodoka had told her earlier at the gate. Then again, Nodoka had not told her why she had done it either.

"I met my son today, Genma. I was…disappointed."

_Disappointed? Why?_

Genma remained silent.

"Now, now, Nodoka", Soun said, "I'm sure there's an explanation for all of this…and there is no need for the katana."

Nodoka did not flinch, allowing Mei to step in. "Disappointed? Why?"

"Mei-san," Kasumi said, "Ranma has a … unique problem."

"Oh?" Mei looked at Nodoka. "What kind of problem?"

"Ranma has a curse…he turns into a girl when splashed with cold water."

Mei did a double-take. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I know this is hard to believe-"

"No. It's unbelievable."

Nodoka relaxed, blade still on Genma's neck. "It's true."

Mei stared at Nodoka, then her eyes went around the room trying to study the faces. There were no obvious signs that someone was lying to her.

"Is this why you're so mad, Nodoka? Is this why you disowned him?"

Kasumi looked up. "Disowned? What happened?"

"That's not your concern," Nodoka said.

"It's my concern. Saotome and I have an agreement that concerns Ranma. He's engaged to marry one of my daughters," Soun said.

"He's engaged? He's not even an adult!"

"Onee-chan, that's true too."

"When did this happen?" Mei asked. "What does this have to do with Nodoka wanting to kill her husband?"

"Perhaps," Soun started, "we should explain everything to each other. It appears that no one has a complete understanding of what is going on." Soun smiled. "Please, have a seat. Kasumi, could you bring us some tea?"

"Yes, father." Kasumi left, and returned shortly with tea and cups for the group.

Nodoka returned the katana to its place, but kept it close, staring at Genma. "Genma, you _are_ going to explain to me why you have not returned with a man among men."

"Mei," Genma said, not moving his head to look at her, "what I'm about to tell her will probably make you want to pick up her sword. Are you sure you want to listen to this?

Mei nodded. _If I'm going to help Nodoka through this, I'm going to have to have to hear his story._

Genma opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the front door being slammed open and two people rushing in.

"Where Ranma?!?"

* * *

It had taken a while, but Kasumi was finally able to calm down Ukyo and Shampoo while explaining to Mei and Nodoka who they were and the multiple fiancée problem. Nodoka was only aware of the Tendo agreement.

Mei was dumbfounded.

_And not all of the players are here. Ranma and Akane aren't here._

The last thing Mei wanted was to watch her cousin execute Genma for whatever reason. Honour-bound for whatever reason or not, she thought that Nodoka would regret that decision for the rest of her life.

_But then, she's already made decisions like that._

Nodoka was thinking the same thing. "Genma, you still have not explained yourself."

Mei watched the blood drain from Genma's face.

"H-How have I failed?"

"I don't have a son anymore. Neither do you."

"Since when?"

"Since he approached me today," Nodoka acidly replied.

"He found you?" Nodoka nodded. "Damn postcard," he mumbled.

"What you have returned with is not my son."

"But he is! He's a martial arts prodigy! He can defeat challengers from across the world!"

"He's not a man."

"You mean his curse?" Genma forced a laugh, trying to make light of it. "It's a minor problem. I already have a fiancée for him, and you can see that there are others fighting for him. I mean…um…ah…he's already a paragon of virility!"

Ukyo and Shampoo smirked, then winced at Genma's description of them.

"Virility? _Virility?!_ I didn't give birth to a sex changer! How could you let this happen?"

"Let what happen?"

"This … this … _curse_."

All eyes turned to Genma.

"The training grounds were legendary! I thought we wanted him to be made of the stuff of legends!"

"Not this kind of legend. From what I was told, your ignorance of the perils of those grounds is the reason why you have your own affliction as well."

_Wait…Genma has a curse too?_

"I've come to honour our agreement."

Genma scrambled to get away from Nodoka. "Wait! The boy isn't even here!" Hiding from behind Soun, he said, "I can't die yet!"

Kasumi was about to explain more to Mei, but she waved her off. Everything made sense to Mei.

"Does anybody know where Ranma is?" Ukyo asked. Everyone in the room looked around, but no answers were coming.

"Nodoka, what did Ranma say when you met him?" Mei asked.

"Nothing of consequence."

"Nothing?" No response. "So where did he go?"

"I don't know. I got rid of him."

"What does that mean? Come clean already!"

"It means that I removed him from my home and I told him that I wanted nothing more to do with him."

Shampoo and Ukyo bristled. Kasumi put her hand to her mouth, while Nabiki and Soun tried to not change their facial expression at all. Genma went wide-eyed. Mei was about to tear into Nodoka when she noticed Kasumi's eyes darting over to the door.

"Akane?" Nabiki whispered.

Akane was standing at the doorway, fire burning behind puffy eyes.

"Did you even talk to him? Did you make an attempt to try to find out anything about him? Did you listen to what he has to say?" Akane screamed.

"Why would I?"

"Heh. You know, I said the exact same thing about three hours ago."

"So you understand then. I can see why you don't want to be with him either."

"No, I don't understand." Akane looked at her feet. "I don't think I'll ever completely understand. I've spent so much time reacting to him that I doubt there's ever a chance that we could ever understand each other. I don't think we could ever be more than friends."

Shampoo's grin could have split her face into two.

"Of course not. That's why Ranma-honey chose me today," Ukyo added.

"You're just as bad! All you ever do is try to fit everything someone says into your own little picture of what's perfect in your mind. You don't care about anyone else or what you have to do to get that, do you? Did you ever ask Ranma what he wants?"

"What are you talking about, Akane? You even admitted to me that Ranma made a decision." Ukyo's face turned wicked. "Or are you just bitter and can't handle the truth?"

"All I said was that Ranma made a decision on what he wants. I didn't say that he chose a fiancée. _You_ filled in the rest." Akane turned to Shampoo. "Don't you even _think_ of saying he chose you either. I can only guess that you heard me talk to Ukyo and decided to run over here."

"Sure Akane…you're just in denial."

The sound of Akane's hand connecting with Ukyo's cheek could be heard from outside the house. Ukyo fell over as a result, and Akane was left towering over Ukyo who was stunned and cradling her face.

"Right. _Denial_." Akane's face showed no remorse. "If this is denial, then what about his mother? She's disowned him, and you have been standing there for Kami-knows-how-long without even attempting to defend him. Could you even answer the questions I asked her?" Staring into her, she said "You even went so far as to play on his _guilt_ that he screwed up over ten years ago with your sauce and had to go to great lengths to try to prove that Ranma and I actually weren't married. And you say I'm in denial?"

Shampoo put on a poker face. Ukyo looked at the floor.

"At least _I_ know I screwed up badly with him." Akane chuckled. "Heh. Hell, I screwed up _again_ today when I said he was out with one of you two and didn't listen to him like I always do. I'm surprised I didn't mallet him. No, instead, I called his mother a bitch without realizing it."

"How dare you! Tendo-san, how could you raise such a horrible daughter?" Nodoka asked, shifting her attention. Genma took the opportunity to quietly get into the back yard and run away. Akane stood up straight, not expecting Nodoka to snap like that to her. "You insult me after admitting that you are the cause of his trouble?"

Kasumi stepped in between Nodoka and Soun. "Mrs. Saotome, it seems she's matured much in the last few minutes." Turning to Akane, she said, "Akane, please calm down."

"Fine." Akane sighed. "But there's no way I'm apologizing. I just hope Ukyo and Shampoo learn that they're not innocent. Neither is Ranma's so-called mother."

"Let's take this slow," Kasumi said, trying to calm everybody down. "Akane, you said Ranma made a choice. Do you know what he wants?"

Akane gulped. It was obvious she did not want to talk about this. "He said he wants out."

"What does that mean?"

"He wants the fighting over him to end and that he wants to save everybody's honour."

Nabiki laughed. "Yeah, right. How does he think he's going to go about doing that?"

"Seppuku."

Nabiki laughed again. "You expect me to believe that? I bet he's just trying to get out of the fire for a little while. He'll be back in a day or two."

"Then why did he have a tanto with him?" Akane snapped. "Come on, Nabiki. You know that if its one thing he tries hard to keep it's his honour…and everyone else's, if he has any control over it. It makes sense. If nobody can have him, nobody loses face."

"Akane, why didn't you stop him?" Soun was annoyed with this latest piece of information. "He is your fiancé, and he is your responsibility."

"I-I don't know." Akane looked at her feet. "I screwed up with him again."

All eyes turned to her, crying again.

"He's probably dead by now and it's my fault."

"No, Akane," Kasumi said. "I think we all have some responsibility for that."

Akane walked towards the door.

"I guess I should start living up to mine."

For some reason Akane did not understand, nobody followed her.

* * *

Two hours had passed since Akane had left the house. Nabiki was feeling grateful that Akane had not called her out for her actions and was trying to justify her behaviour to herself for the last two years. It did not work as well as she had hoped.

Genma was nowhere to be found.

Ukyo and Shampoo were talking to Kasumi. Soun's emotions had caught up with him, and he had began to cry over the impossibility that the schools would be joined since Ranma was likely dead. Everyone had left him alone.

Nodoka stepped outside to think, infuriated at what had been said.

_What gave that girl the right to say that to me?_

"Imouto…"

_When I was a child, I would have never said those things…if I did, Mother would have spanked me and called me out on it…_

_Did I just get called out? Am I really that horrible? Am I a terrible mother?_

_Soun should have sent her away and punished her on the spot if he had any backbone…which idiot raised her? Then again, Soun is incompetent, which leaves that nice Kasumi girl, who seemed so much like Mother…everybody seemed to respect her…_

"Imouto?" Mei put her hand on Nodoka's shoulder, startling her. "Are you OK?"

_She didn't respect me…and Mei didn't like what I did either…_

"Im-"

"I'm fine."

_No, I'm not._

Mei stepped in front of Nodoka, looking at her.

"Wasn't I right?"

_Would Mother respect me for what I did?_

"You were well within your rights."

_Phew._

"But what did I do wrong?" Nodoka asked.

Mei's eyes betrayed her. _Everything._ _Damn._ "Just because you had the right, didn't make it the right thing to do."

_"Did you even talk to him?"_

_"Did you make an attempt to try to find out anything about him?" _

_"Did you listen to what he has to say?"_

_"Wait, mom…please…I need your help…"_

"She was right."

"What?"

"Akane. She was right about me."

Mei did not answer.

"Does he hate me?"

Mei sighed. "I don't know. Probably. Maybe."

"What should I do?"

"What Akane is doing, I think."

_I failed him too._

At that moment, the phone rang inside the house. Nodoka did not want to eavesdrop, but Kasumi answered it and spoke loud enough so that she could hear.

"Hello…Yes…Yes…Yes…Oh no…Yes…We'll be right there…(hangs up phone)…Mrs. Saotome?"

"Yes?"

"That was the hospital. Ranma's hurt. They said to come there right now."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

There's chapter 4.

I think I'm going to take some heat for what I did with Akane and Mei. While I do think that Akane is quick to judge and react without thinking, I don't think that it's impossible for her to feel remorse, nor do I think it unlikely that one day she'd be forced to account for her actions towards Ranma. Akane's rant towards Nodoka and actions towards Ukyo show that. She then has the same kind of problem that Ranma has, which that while she knows that she has a serious dilemma, she doesn't know how to solve it. Akane's not used to this, and feels guilty when she didn't try to stop him when he left the shrine. (Think about the time during the Weakness Moxibustion arc where she can't tell Ranma what he has going for him without his strength, and she's under much more pressure this time around.)

Mei is intended to be like Nodoka's conscience. That's why Mei is Nodoka's older cousin that grew up closely with her, quite literally has to catch up with Nodoka on her way to the Tendos' and has to tell Nodoka what she thinks she has to do too. Conscience needs practice, and since Nodoka hasn't needed hers for a while, Mei's supposed to be a bit unsure on how to handle Nodoka's feelings. Conscience isn't an overriding factor either – Mei gives Nodoka small hints and lets her put the pieces together. Nodoka has to make up her mind on where she stands.

Before arriving at the Tendos', Nodoka had only explained that Ranma had visited and that she had disowned him. She skipped the curse part, which is why Mei is asking why she did that.

On a side note, don't watch _24_ DVDs when writing angry character dialogue. Editing becomes really interesting when Ranma becomes Jack Bauer.

With respect to a few reviews I received:

**Ozzallos:** This chapter is twice as long as the others, not because I deliberately made it longer, but because it was the best place to break it. I see your point, but hey, rookie mistakes get made. If I were to do it again, chapters 2 and 3 would be combined.

Oh well. Live and learn.

**AnimeFreak317:** I did introduce Mei, but I don't think she's what you had in mind and she's not going to solve the problems. You had it right when you said that the characters would use their 'bias rights', and I'm trying to challenge them.

**Ecchi-ANBU:** A Ranma/Akane fic? Not terribly likely.

Thanks to all the reviewers and readers who have waited so patiently thus far and once again to my girlfriend, who kicked me into some fairly major edits and some necessary changes to some of the dialogue, let alone was the source of a couple of crucial lines by Ranma and Akane. One of them is a derivative of a line from _Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa._

As always, comments, questions, and beefs are welcomed.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for waiting ever so patiently for this chapter. I was held up while writing my Master's thesis, which had to take priority over this and grad school has a way of kicking you in the ass.

**Disclaimer: **

I don't own _Ranma ½_. It's owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Comics. This isn't written for any form of profit.

**Warning**:

The first scene makes very light use of descriptions of various parts of human anatomy. It's not intended to be gory, but you should be forewarned. If you can't handle an episode of _House_, _Grey's Anatomy_, or _Scrubs,_ skip this scene. Then again, a chunk of this chapter is spent in a hospital.

* * *

"BP falling!" 

"What? Get me another unit, stat! O negative."

"Pulse?"

"140 and rising."

"Doctor?"

"What?"

"She's freezing."

"I can't even get the patient stable enough to look at the wound!"

"She's barely breath-"

"Intubate her," he said reflexively.

Looking inside the body of the unconscious 17 year old girl, he was shocked. Someone had sliced through her, but whoever did it seemed to know what he or she was doing. But there was something weird about the laceration, and he did not have time to go exploring for causes.

The electrocardiogram's beeping got faster.

"Where the hell is the surgeon from cardio?! I can't stop this bleeding!"

"Blood pressure's 80 over 50."

"Call gastro and renal too. Make sure there's an OR ready." He looked around at the team working on the patient. "We have to get this kid stable for surgery, ok? We aren't saving her here."

"She's arresting!"

"Damn! Start compressions!"

* * *

"Mrs. Saotome?" 

Two pairs of eyes were boring into the face of a middle-aged woman, who was looking pale.

"Mrs. Saotome?"

_What have I done?_

"I…I can't…"

"Nodoka," Mei said forcefully, "whatever guilt you're feeling right now can wait." She started shaking Nodoka by the shoulders. "We have to go." Turning to Kasumi, she said, "Call a cab. Now." Kasumi ran inside.

"Mei…I can't do this."

"What?! Why?!"

"Aren't I the reason why he's there now?"

"You don't know that." Mei stared at Nodoka. "Stop making assumptions. It's got you in enough trouble for one day."

"What do you know?" Nodoka snapped back. "You and I both know from when Grandfather died that 'get here now' is the nice way for medical people to say 'we're not sure he'll make it through the night'. What right do I have to be there?"

"You're his _mother_, Nodoka. Even his father has business there."

"I gave up that title this afternoon."

Mei threw up her hands in frustration. "I can't believe that you really are that selfish." She turned her attention temporarily towards the koi pond in the middle of the yard. _Why are you being so stubborn, imouto-chan?_ She could hear Kasumi asking Nabiki if she had heard from Akane back inside the house. Shampoo and Ukyo had already ran from the Tendo residence. Beside her, Nodoka was livid.

"What? Selfish? How am I selfish?"

"You should know the answer to that," replied Mei as she continued staring at the pond.

"Well, I don't. You're doing a good job of telling me what I'm doing wrong, so why don't you tell me what mistakes I'm making now?" Nodoka asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Mei sighed again and turned her attention back towards her cousin. "You don't want to go because you don't want to face your mistakes."

Nodoka glowered. "Why are you rubbing salt in the wound at a time like this? Isn't it bad enough that Akane chewed me out two hours ago?"

"You think I _want_ to be like this to you? You think I _like_ making your life more difficult?"

"Yes! Why else would you say such a thing?"

"Because it needed to be said!" Mei yelled. "You think that spending time wallowing in your own guilt about mistakes you made as a mother means you don't have to do anything about it?"

Nodoka fumed.

"Mrs. Saotome," Kasumi's voice called out, breaking the tension between the two women. "The taxi is here."

"Come on," said Mei as she grabbed Nodoka's wrist and half dragged her towards the front door."Guilt is not penance, imouto-chan."

"Then what is it?" demanded Nodoka as she tried to break free of Mei's grip.

"A first step."

Nodoka let Mei's statement hang for a few seconds."Mei, I'm not going anywhere. That's final."

"Save it," Mei said. "Argue with me at the hospital." She pulled Nodoka into the waiting taxi where Kasumi and Nabiki were already sitting and ordered the driver to head towards Tokyo General Hospital.

* * *

The operation was not going well. 

The patient's vital signs had not stabilized despite the surgeons' best efforts. She had nearly crashed in the elevator on the way to the OR. A kidney had been removed as well as a section of the liver. Doctors were beginning to worry about how long the patient had spent in this state. The initial bleeding had been significant, and the transfused blood did not last long in the patient.

It almost seemed like the patient did _not_ want to make it out of the operating room.

The surgeons were running out of options and accepted that the patient's life would never be quite what it was before whatever terrible incident happened to her. They were examining other candidates for removal when every monitor in the operating room started screaming.

"What the hell? She's arresting again!"

"Be careful…she's already done this once on the way up here, so I don't know how much she can take."

"We can't just _let_ her die either!"

"I know. Just don't make her die either."

* * *

Mei was about to pull her hair out. 

She had arrived with Kasumi and Nabiki at the emergency room of the hospital, with Nodoka protesting the entire way. At Kasumi's request, both she and Nabiki stayed out of the conversation between the two older women. Nabiki wanted to listen in, but could not get close enough without raising suspicion from Mei and Nodoka as well as a frown from Kasumi.

It did not show on Kasumi, but Nabiki noticed that she was genuinely worried. Kasumi had no idea to where Akane had run off, but with Ranma hurt, the potential for danger to her youngest sister was there. Kasumi hoped that Akane was unhurt. She knew her already inconsolable father would not do well if anything happened to her, and if Ranma made it out of this her father's rage against him would likely drive him away again.

"What is he to you, Nodoka?" Mei asked. "Your child or a random nobody?"

"I...I don't understand."

"That's because you don't make sense. You feel bad about the fact that you disowned him and how you want to make things right but then you refuse to admit you're his mother. You're disowning him _again_ every time you do that."

Nodoka stared at her with a hint of malice in her eyes, since her initial thought was that Mei wanted to continue to embarrass her. Mei regained her composure and continued. "Look, I know this is hard for you, because I keep making you feel bad and I'm constantly mentioning that you screwed up with Ranma. But for your own sake, you have to make up your mind. Either you accept the fact that you owe Ranma a lot and you treat him as your child or you give up on this mothering business, leave Ranma to his own devices, and ignore him. If you choose to give up, I won't hold it against you." Mei lowered her gaze. "I think many people in your position would make that choice really quickly."

"You want me to--"

"All I want you to do is think about it and make up your mind. I won't make the decision for you. It's your life, imouto-chan, but I don't think you'll ever forgive yourself for anything if you don't decide now."

"I..." Nodoka started, only to decide that she had nothing to counter Mei. "Alright, I'll think about it."

Nabiki, shaking her head, and Kasumi walked inside the ER.

"If you want to talk, I'll be inside, but I think you need some time on your own."

Mei waited a moment for the automatic sliding doors of the emergency room, and walked inside.

* * *

The emergency room was empty, except for a girl with dark blue hair sitting in a corner of the waiting area. 

"Goodness, Akane, what happened to you?" Kasumi asked as she sat down. Akane's shirt was covered in blood, and her hands had a red tint to them, as if she had wiped her hands on something but did not wash them. Akane stared blankly at the nurses' station.

"I just hope I wasn't too late," she responded.

"Late?"

"I saw Ranma--"

Shampoo and Ukyo burst into the emergency room, glaring at each other. It was obvious to everyone that they had been fighting the entire way to the hospital as each one was exhausted and had weapons ready.

"Where Ranma?" Shampoo screamed. "Shampoo get Airen and great-grandmother and go to village where real healer at!" Everyone in the ER waiting room, including the staff stopped what they were doing to look at Shampoo.

"You're crazy, Shampoo," Ukyo said, folding her arms under her chest, "You're not taking him out of the hospital. _I'll_ wait here for Ranma and take him to my place when he gets released."

"Stupid spatula girl know nothing about taking care of mens. Leave husband to Shampoo." Turning to the triage nurse who was frozen in her seat she demanded, "Tell Shampoo where Ranma is now!"

The triage nurse sputtered from Shampoo's glare and bonbori could only manage to stutter "She...She's not here...in surgery..."

"Surgery? Ranma's being operated on?" Ukyo asked. She surveyed the room, took a look at the Tendo sisters, and then the situation made sense to her. She turned to Akane. "You did this, didn't you?"

"Violent girl hurt Ranma? I kill!"

"No! I didn't! I only brought him here!"

"You know what, Akane?" Ukyo furiously asked. "You. Me. Outside. Now. I've had enough of your nonsense. The winner is there when Ranma gets out and is with him forever."

"You no fight for Airen without Shampoo! Shampoo prove she best for Ranma!"

"I..." Akane started.

"Giving up?"

No answer came.

"Fine then. It's over, Akane." Ukyo walked out of the ER. Shampoo followed, sizing up her opponent for a final battle.

* * *

_Ok Mei, you win. I give up. There isn't much point in continuing this anymore. I'll let him wake up, tell him he's manly so he can move on, and then I'll get the hell out of his life. I can forget him and he can forget me._

_It is better this way._

Nodoka steeled herself before walking into the ER to meet Mei and the Tendo sisters. Once she got inside, she saw Kasumi trying to console Akane. Nabiki and Mei were sitting nearby.

On the other side of the ER, a man in hospital scrubs walked out of the elevator towards the nurses' station. He had a small conversation with the triage nurse, and then walked over to Mei.

"Excuse me, are you Mrs. Saotome?" he asked Mei.

"No, that would be me," Nodoka said, walking closer.

"Mrs. Saotome, I'm Dr. Ishida. Could you come with me? We need to talk."

* * *

Nodoka followed the doctor into a quieter area of Emergency until he motioned her to stop. 

"I'm sorry about having to move over here, but I'm only allowed to discuss this with immediate family, and it seemed like talking about it in front of his friends would make them more emotional."

Nodoka nodded. "How is Ranma?"

"Ranma suffered from a very deep cut to her abdomen and blood loss. The ER was not able to handle her case properly, so she was transferred upstairs for surgery so they could try to stop the bleeding--"

Nodoka cut him off. "Doctor, please, how is Ranma?"

"Mrs. Saotome, I'm sorry. Ranma didn't make it. We did the best we could, but she had lost too much blood."

Nodoka's legs failed her. The doctor couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"If you like, I can refer you to a counselor we have here in the hospital. Maybe you and your family would like to talk to him."

Nodoka hesitated and said, "No...doctor, that will not be necessary. I...I want to see Ranma."

The doctor sighed. "I'll see what I can do. If you need anything else, ask the nurses for me."

"Thank you, doctor."

* * *

Having waited a while for Nodoka, Mei told Kasumi and Nabiki that she was going to look for her. After searching for a few minutes, Mei found her sitting. She looked like she was waiting for something. 

"How is he, Nodoka?"

The look on her face was enough of an answer.

"Imouto, I'm so sorry..." Mei said, taking Nodoka into a hug. "What happened?" Nodoka explained what the doctor had told her earlier and Mei continued to console her.

"It's alright. Actually, I think I owe you an apology."

"Me? For what?"

"I...was... mean today when you were trying to help me see my own...faults."

Mei smiled. "Don't worry about it." After a few moments, she broke the embrace and asked "Why are you sitting here? Do you need something?"

"No, I'm just waiting so I can see the body," Nodoka replied, looking down. "Actually, there is one thing you can do for me."

"Sure."

"I can't face them right now...can you tell Akane and the others what happened for me? I'm going to hurt them so much if I tell them."

* * *

"Did you find Mrs. Saotome?" Kasumi asked when Mei returned. 

"Yeah. She's ok."

Akane looked up at Mei with a tear-stained face. "How's Ranma?"

The three Tendo sisters stared at Mei while waiting for an answer. Mei looked sadly at Akane before breaking the news. "Akane, I'm sorry. He didn't make it."

* * *

Nodoka followed an orderly into the basement of the hospital, heading towards the morgue. 

She did not know what to expect.

Akane and Mei had made her feel like she was the worst person on the planet, even after apologizing to Mei for her behaviour and avoiding Akane.

The hospital staff…just _looked_ at her.

_Like I'm some sort of.._.

She did not blame them for their reactions either. After all, she disowned her child for reasons beyond his control, hesitated when she found out that her child was hurt, and almost refused to come to the hospital that was treating him.

To top it off, the hospital staff thought she was losing her mind because she could not get the sex of her only child correct. Nodoka wanted to explain the curse, but that would be difficult. She did not really understand it, and the only people who really could discuss it to the level that medical professionals would want were either dead or missing. It also did not help that a bunch of medical professionals were the last people she expected to believe her story about Ranma being born male.

Also, the doctors and nurses who had worked on their patient had not determined what caused the careful slices through her abdomen. Nodoka's silence on the matter implicated her, and she knew that the orderly was sizing her up to determine if she was likely to be at least part of the cause. They had been musing about an autopsy to help solve that mystery, but the coroner was not available until the morning. Nodoka knew the answer, but was not going to be giving it right away, or at least until she made peace with herself.

That was what led her to the basement of Tokyo General-Nerima.

The orderly led her into a room which had a wall that seemed to be full of filing cabinets. On the far side of the room was a gurney, with a body covered by a blanket. The orderly checked a clipboard that was attached to the wall, and then walked towards the gurney. He peeked under the cloth and held the edge with two hands, checking that the body under the blanket was the body he was looking for.

"Are you sure you want to do this? We can return to the waiting room so you can be with your friends and family."

Nodoka nodded, and gasped when the orderly pulled back the blanket, exposing the corpse's head and red hair. He stopped folding the blanket back at the collarbone.

Putting the blanket down, he said, "Let me know if you need anything."

"O-OK. Thank you."

"I'll be at the desk just down the hall." The orderly left.

Nodoka walked up to the gurney, and stared at the girl's tired, pale face. "Ranma…why did you do this?"

No answer came.

"Was I the last straw?"

More silence.

_Maybe I am losing it. I'm talking to a corpse._

"Why?" She punched the wall. "Why did I have to be such a fool?" She chuckled. "And here I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was doing what was best for you, and the family."

When she noticed the pain in her hand, she bit down to hold herself back from screaming.

"You understand that, right? I did what any good parent would do for their children. I wanted you to be strong, powerful, and respected. I wanted you to be someone I could be proud of…someone who I could show off and say 'that's my son'.

_This is harder than I thought._

"It wasn't pure selfishness either," Nodoka pleaded. "Powerful people have it easier. You didn't have to be the emperor, just someone who won't get screwed around like everyone else. I just wanted your life to be easier than mine, and you shouldn't have to work as hard as I do now when you get older. Martial arts were the best of both worlds for you and me. We could still be a traditional family, and a respected martial artist has so many options on what he could do…

Nodoka looked at her feet and breathed deeply.

"I just didn't expect the curse! I don't think anyone did!" she pleaded. "I guess I just got lost in my fantasy. I used to tell myself that I can handle a bit of change from tradition, and I threw you out before you could explain anything. I almost killed your father because of what happened today.

"And then I learned of some bits and pieces of your life – the one I wanted to make easier – and found that it was so much worse than I had ever imagined. I didn't know that the engagement had gone so badly, and that your father had made more trouble for you. The curse couldn't have been easy to deal with, and I have some of the blame for that. If I hadn't let your father take you with him, it wouldn't have happened.

_And you wouldn't be dead._

Nodoka sobbed into her hands. "I really failed as a mother didn't I? Instead of accepting you for who you are I forced you out of my…no, _our_ house and disowned you before you had a chance to explain anything. The fact that you came to me knowing what could have happened shows how bad your situation was. It must have taken everything you had to survive it for as long as you did."

She walked towards the body. "Ranma," she whispered as she slowly reached out to brush back a strand of red hair from her face. "I-I'm so sorry. If only you were still alive, you could tell me what you really felt, and I'd know if you could actually forgive me for what I helped do to you."

* * *

Akane was inconsolable. After what she had seen and went through, she figured that she had been through her own personal hell. 

_Nothing says "I love you" more than what happened tonight_, she thought, as the images of what she had seen before arriving at the hospital were burned into her memory. She felt powerless after not being able to help Ranma earlier, and at the same time, guilty because of what she helped cause.

Kasumi was not one to let Akane go through this grief alone, especially after her advice earlier in the night. Her advice had set Akane out to find Ranma in the first place, and her meeting with Ranma at the shrine had forced a new perspective on her and made her even more emotional. Kasumi thought that Akane would end up in a serious depression if she did not get help, and she was trying her best to ease Akane through this rough patch by soothing her and trying to talk her out of her guilt without much success.

The stalemate that Akane thought about would soon be broken. Not long after Ukyo and Shampoo left, Akane could hear the sounds of weapons and special techniques being used. She felt terrible that she had just given up after fighting for so long, especially since she hated to lose. Then again, the constant fights got her to this point, and she knew that the only person she could hold accountable for her actions was herself.

"Just because you were part of the cause doesn't mean that you have to go about it alone," Kasumi said.

"I can handle my own problems, Kasumi."

"Oh really? So you're going to tell me that because you're a martial artist you can take care of yourself?" Nabiki asked. "I've heard that one from you before and I'm not convinced."

"Nabiki, please, be nice to your sister," Kasumi said. Kasumi felt out of her element – she wanted to say more but did not know what to say, or rather, _how_ to say it.

"Honestly, Akane, what are you going to do? You can't solve this by breaking bricks and I don't think punching out a corpse is going to do you much good. You need help, and as much as I know you hate it, you can't do this by yourself."

"_You're_ going to help _me_?" Akane asked in disbelief.

"Me? Hell no. I know I'm no good at this stuff," Nabiki said, confusing Akane. "Look, you're tired and you've had a really long day. There's nothing you can do here. Let's go home and you can talk to Kasumi like you did when Mom died. I'll probably make things worse."

Kasumi nodded. "What about those two outside?" Mei asked.

"Who cares? It's not like they can claim their prize anyway. They'll figure it out."

The Tendos left, and Mei went to the area where she left Nodoka to wait for her. When Ukyo returned to the ER exhausted, bruised, and victorious over Shampoo, the only people there to celebrate with her were the ER nurses.

They didn't have good news for her.

* * *

In the few days between Ranma's death and the service, Nodoka had to visit the Tendo household several times. Akane started to channel her grief into anger despite Kasumi's best efforts, and some harsh words were exchanged between them. Nodoka tried to take it in stride, as it seemed to help Akane with release, but sometimes she fought back. It still hurt all the same. 

Genma had returned, only to be told everything by Nabiki and Soun. Fearing the worst, he began to hide from Nodoka again, knowing that his panda form would not help. Mei was able to slowly convince Nodoka that killing Genma did not help things, as it would have devastated Soun further to lose a friend as well as the broken promise to unite the two families. Nodoka instead took her time when deciding what to do with her relationship with Genma. She did not want to make another rash decision that she would later regret.

The funeral service was one of the most sombre events in Neriman history. It seemed like the entire ward was immediately aware of Ranma's death, and were sorry to see him go this way. Most thought that the Jusenkyo curse carried another Chinese curse with it: "May you live in interesting times."

After the service, Akane and Nodoka were left at the grave, heads bowed and neither speaking to each other. Akane's venting on Nodoka was emotionally taxing on both of them, as well as each other's presence without someone to mediate in the ensuing fight. At the same time, it became a test of will to see who would speak first.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Nodoka broke the ice. "He did the right thing, Akane."

"Huh? How? How is what he did the right thing?"

"I'm not sure you would understand."

"What's to understand? We pushed him over the edge. He's dead. It's simple."

"There's more to it than that," Nodoka responded. Akane was about to say something, when Nodoka turned to her and put her hand on Akane's shoulder. "We threw him away. What was he supposed to do? It wasn't fair for him to deal with what we put him through."

Akane sighed and lowered her head. "I know. Look at all the things I did. I hit him and used him. I didn't trust him to be with other girls when he was nothing but good with the other fiancées, but I wanted him all for myself."

"Look, Akane, its clear that you loved him, and I know you're considering following him. Please, for my sake, don't."

Akane turned gave her a cold stare. To Nodoka, it was clear that Akane had been giving serious thought to the idea. Nodoka hoped that she actually had not tried it yet.

"I don't want the deaths of two teenagers on my hands."

Akane hesitated, thinking about Nodoka's statement. Turning her head back to the gravestone, Akane asked, "So what do we do now?"

"We move on."

"That's easy for you to say. You were the one with the katana ready to kill Ranma or Mr. Saotome whenever you felt like it."

"That was a mistake I regret deeply, Akane-chan. I would have declared him manly if he was still alive today. Instead, I'm a massive failure."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Your sister told my cousin and me about all the heroic things my son did. How he used to put himself on the line for you and learn from initial defeat. We need to do the same thing, learn from the mistakes we made and try to make up for them."

"We can't do that. He's dead."

"That didn't stop me in the hospital."

Akane paused. "You..._apologized_...to Ranma in the hospital?"

"Yes. I think you should do the same, but nobody is forcing you to do it."

"What good will apologizing do?"

"You'll forgive yourself, and you'll get better. Ranma would have wanted that." Nodoka turned to leave. "I know you love the martial arts, Akane, and I know you need to heal. I still do, but I have Mei to help me."

"I..."

"You have Kasumi, so take your time. If you feel that you cannot talk to Kasumi about some things, or you need someone else to talk to, have her call me. I will listen to you."

Akane looked back at Nodoka, confused. She had somewhat expected a fight between them, not instructions on how to make things right.

"But…what about all the things I said? I called you a bitch to Ranma, which only made him feel worse."

"You were crying about that mistake a few days ago."

"And the other terrible things I've done?"

"It is clear to me that you feel badly about them."

"But…"

"You are not unforgivable, Akane. Remember that."

Akane flushed. Kasumi had never told her that. She focused on making Akane feel less badly, not better about herself.

"What about you?"

"Mei said the same thing. You're not the only one who feels awful about…" Nodoka stopped to sniffle and noticeably swallow, "…what they've done or the decisions they've made."

"Oh," was all Akane could manage to say.

"Good evening, Akane-chan." Nodoka walked home, holding back tears.

Akane looked at the headstone.

"Hi, Ranma. I…guess we still need to talk."

* * *

**Author's notes: **

No parent wants their life to be better than their child's. No parent wants to bury a child either. Nodoka had to do both. She is heavily based on some observations I've made from real parents, including my own, but I think the above two events would force a new reality on anyone. At the same time, lots of fan fiction have Kasumi as someone who is always happy – that becomes a flaw when everyone around you is sad.

As for Akane, it's deliberately vague on exactly what happened between Akane and Ranma when she found him. Similarly, Ukyo's and Shampoo's reactions to Ranma's death are left out because I wanted to focus on Akane and Nodoka.

I'd like to thank all who reviewed. Again, I somewhat expect a mixed reaction. I'd especially like to thank my girlfriend Silvery Mist, who prevented me from committing serious character assassination and whom I finally managed to convince to register at FanFiction dot net to post her Fullmetal Alchemist (read: Roy/Riza romance) stories.

As for me, I'm trying to learn my lessons from this story as I try to plan out a Fate/Stay Night story and a Ranma/FSN crossover where Ranma summons Saber (That's all I've got. I know I need more.)

Please review – I value a diversity of opinions – or if you have ideas.

Edits: Version 2 restores a lot of formatting that the upload process decided to strip and I put back twice manually.


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